Volcano Calbuco in southern Chile erupted for the first time in more than five decades on Wednesday Yangervis Solarte Jersey , sending a thick plume of ash and smoke nearly 20 kilometres into the sky.

Volcano Calbuco in southern Chile erupted for the first time in more than five decades on Wednesday Volcano Calbuco in southern Chile erupted for the first time in more than five decades on Wednesday Volcano Calbuco in southern Chile erupted for the first time in more than five decades on Wednesday Volcano Calbuco in southern Chile erupted for the first time in more than five decades on Wednesday Volcano Calbuco in southern Chile erupted for the first time in more than five decades on Wednesday

Chile's Onemi emergency office declared a red alert following the sudden eruption at around 1800 local time (2100 GMT), which occurred about 1,000 kilometres (625 miles) south of Santiago, the capital, near the tourist town of Puerto Varas.

As night fell, about 4,000 people had so far moved out of the area Erick Aybar Jersey , an evacuation radius of 20 kilometres has been established and classes have been cancelled in surrounding towns, authorities said.

President Michelle Bachelet is scheduled to travel to the affected area on Thursday.

There are no reports of deaths, missing persons or injuries, Interior Minister Rodrigo Penailillo said. He urged residents to evacuate and warned of possible lahars, a mix of water and rock fragments that flow down a volcano's slopes and river valleys.

Winds blowing northeast were pushing the column of ash and smoke toward Argentina.

"In this situation, with the eruption column so high, the main risk is that it collapses Johnny Manziel Jersey , falls due to gravity because of its own weight and causes a pyroclastic flow," Gabriel Orozco, a vulcanologist with Chile's geological and mining service, said on local TV.

A pyroclastic flow is a superheated current of gas and rock that can destroy nearly everything in its path and travel at speeds upwards of 200 to 300 kilometres per hour.

LATAM Airlines said it has cancelled flights to and from neighbouring Puerto Montt, the area's largest city, due to the presence of volcanic ash, which can potentially damage aircraft and make flying dangerous.

Trevor Moffat Randy Jones Jersey , who lives in Ensenada, some 10 km from the volcano, said he and his family fled when the volcano erupted. The last major eruption of the 2,003-meter-tall Volcano Calbuco was in 1961.

"All the neighbours were outside, a lot of young people crying. Armageddon type reaction," said Canada-born Moffat, who was driving to nearby Puerto Varas.

Television pictures showed a spectacular mushroom-shaped column billowing into the sky with occasional lighting bolts shooting through. The eruption was seen in towns at least 50 kilometres away.

"There are a lot of people out in the streets, many heading to the gas stations to fill up on gas Ozzie Smith Jersey ," Derek Way, a resident of Puerto Varas, said.

"A friend told me to fill everything we have with water," Way added.

Chile, on the Pacific "Rim of Fire," has the second largest chain of volcanoes in the world after Indonesia, including around 500 that are potentially active.

In March Cory Spangenberg Jersey , Volcano Villarrica, also in southern Chile, erupted, sending a plume of ash and lava high into the sky, but it quickly subsided.

Iraqi's military said on Sunday 61 bodies were recovered from a collapsed building that the Islamic State booby trapped in west Mosul, but there was no sign it had been hit by a coalition strike although a large vehicle bomb was discovered nearby.

The military statement differed from reports by witnesses and local officials that as many as 200 bodies had been pulled from a collapsed building after a coalition strike last week targeted IS militants and equipment in al Jadida district area.

What happened on March 17 remains unclear and details are difficult to confirm as Iraqi forces battle with IS to recapture the densely populated parts of the western half of Mosul, the militant group's last stronghold in Iraq.

But the incident highlights the complexity of fighting in west Mosul Wil Myers Jersey , where militants hide among families, using them as shields and putting at risk as many as half a million people still caught in Islamic State-held areas.

The US-led coalition backing Iraqi forces on Saturday said it carried out a strike on IS militants and equipment in the area of the reported deaths, but it was still investigating.

The Iraqi military command said witnesses had told troops that the building was boobytrapped and militants had forced residents inside basements to use them as human shields. IS militants had also fired on troops from houses, it said.

A coalition air strike had hit the area, but a military team had not found any sign the collapsed building had been hit.

"A team of military experts from field commanders checked the building where the media reported that the house was completely destroyed. All walls were booby-trapped and there is no hole that indicates an air strike," it said.

"Sixty-one bodies were evacuated," the statement said.

Its figures were lower than other local officials. A local municipal official said on Saturday 240 bodies had been pulled from the rubble.

CANBERRA Rollie Fingers Jersey , Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Summer in Melbourne means a fortnight of top-level tennis at the Australian Open. Here are some key facts and figures for the year's first grand slam tournamen: